Wellypower to Boost LED Lighting Business

Taipei, Jan. 21, 2009 (CENS)--Lamp maker Wellypower Optronics Corp. will ramp up output of LED emitters and LED lighting fixtures to find an outlet for LED chips from Lextar Electronics Corp., which is a member of the AUO Group as is Wellypower.

Wellypower was founded in 1994 by China Electrical Mfg. Co., Ltd., Taiwan's No.1 lamp maker, to specifically make T5 fluorescent tubes as backlight. A few years ago, AUO Group, Taiwan's No.1 LCD panel maker, acquired dominant stakes in Wellypower. The subsidiary has recently branched out into LED packaging and cold cathode fluorescent lamp sectors as part of its diversification strategy.

Festering market of LCD panels, the major applications of various backlights, has compelled Wellypower to shift business emphasis to lighting by tailoring its lamps for lighting fixtures. Currently, the company turns out 50 million LED emitters, 1.4 million T5 lamps, and 24 million CCFL lamps a month.

Wellypower's chairman, S.B. Chen, who is concurrently vice chairman of AUO, said the Lextar has begun production of the chips in small volume since it was found in May last year. He added that collaboration will ensure steady consumption of Lextar's chips, and strengthen the vertical integration of LED resources within the group.

Chen added that revenue from lighting sales will soar to account for 20-30% of Wellypower's total revenue by the end of this year from less than 5%. For a long time, backlight sales have contributed over 95% of the company's revenue. Frail LCD market has halved the company's backlight capacity utilization. Its production of LED emitters and T5 lamps, Chen reported, are running at full capacity, with output of LED emitters projected to reach 13 million units throughout this month.